The ailing bridges of Northampton County

Northampton needs $20 million for 'structurally deficient' and other spans.

The Old Filetown Road bridge in Bushkill Township could be closed under… (Kevin Mingora, THE MORNING…)

November 24, 2012|By Samantha Marcus, Of The Morning Call

The Miller Road bridge hasn't fallen into the Oughoughton Creek. Not all of it, anyway. A chunk along one side disappeared some time back, leaving a hole you can see the water through, but the 82-year-old bridge remains open to traffic.

A sign just before the bridge warning of weight limits hints at more trouble below.

The Miller Road bridge, which traverses the creek in a woodsy part of Upper Mount Bethel Township, is no anomaly. In Northampton County, more than 50 bridges are in need of repair, including spans deemed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to be either structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or in need of immediate maintenance.

The average bridge in Northampton County is 60 years old, and 14 are more than 100 years old. The oldest, Cedar Drive over Indian Creek in Lehigh Township, was built in 1826.

County officials say they need $20 million over three years to rebuild, rehabilitate or decommission many of the bridges — neglected for years amid a funding crunch at the state and county levels. They may not have much time left to act.

"We've known there was a problem that would eventually catch up with us," said Steven DeSalva, Northampton County's director of public works. "You get away with it for a while, until things start falling apart on you."

That's exactly what happened in Minneapolis in 2007, when the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring more than 140. Two years earlier near Pittsburgh, an Interstate 70 bridge fell onto the travel lanes beneath it, injuring three people in a passing car.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates one in four U.S. bridges is either structurally deficient or structurally obsolete. Nationwide, $10.5 billion is spent each year on bridge maintenance, but it would require $17 billion annually to markedly improve things.

Pennsylvania has the nation's largest share of structurally deficient bridges. In Northampton and Lehigh counties, 19.6 percent and 16.5 percent of bridges, respectively, are deficient.

No money, no time

Northampton County relies almost exclusively on state funding to maintain its bridges, unlike Lehigh County, which supplements state funding for bridge improvements from its own general fund. Pennsylvania's two funding streams, a liquid fuels tax and Act 44 payments from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, provide Northampton County $730,000 a year. The county also stretches those funds to pay for highway lighting and public works salaries and equipment.

County Executive John Stoffa said he needs nearly $20 million to replace, rehabilitate or remove 53 bridges. That money, raised through a bond issue, would go a long way toward addressing the county bridges' major deficiencies, he said.

Without that money, officials say, PennDOT will close down spans, take over the repairs and withhold funds.

"We have identified the serious consequences of the state of our bridges, and shame on us if we don't do something," Stoffa said.

Improvements have been delayed by insufficient funding, a labyrinth-like PennDOT system, and failed tries at getting county bridges in the competitive, federally funded Transportation Improvement Program, county officials said.

Of the 115 bridges Northampton County alone maintains, PennDOT identified 17 for priority maintenance, which means the county has a short window to develop a plan of action and repair the bridges. The county shares maintenance for four other bridges with Lehigh County.

Bethlehem-based Borton-Lawson, the county's bridge engineering consultants, called that proportion of bridges at risk of being closed "significant." Overall, Borton-Lawson rated Northampton's bridges a C- or D+.

Revenue from the state alone simply doesn't allow the county to keep up with maintenance, Borton-Lawson Transportation Project Manager Carl McGloughlin said. And many of the bridges are so deteriorated, replacement is the better option.

A bridge bond proposal likely would prioritize those bridges that PennDOT has targeted and then tackle spans with weight restrictions. Some maintenance projects would be deferred, McGloughlin said.

"If we don't do the repairs that are required, PennDOT's going to be all over us," said DeSalva, the public works director. "It's one of those imminent things that people just close their eyes to, hoping it won't happen today."

While DeSalva would prefer the county begin design and engineering work immediately, Stoffa said he likely won't address new bonds until the spring, when he plans to refinance some existing debt. Estimates put the cost of the proposed bridge debt service at nearly $1.4 million a year.

"I don't know whether the council will go along with it or not," Stoffa said. "I think it's the responsible thing to do. … It is a nationwide problem. It really is. But we can do it. All we have to do is get five people to say 'You know what, we're going do it.' "